Defenestration n1
by Kalinsub
Summary: After the war with Voldemort in which he had made more horcruxes, Harry Potter decides to go back to do it differently after the death of Hermione. But this time he's ready. Powerful Harry. NOTE: Discontinued until further notice. Focusing on other fic
1. The Beginning

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, not me or anyone else on this site (unless, of course, JK Rowling has decided to come here).**

 **XXXXX**

Harry Potter stood in front of the glowing circle before him, hesitating. His thoughts wandered back fifty years as he thought back to why he was just beginning to do this after so long.

XXXXX

The war with Voldemort had taken much longer than anyone had expected. The reason was because of the fact that he did _not_ have seven horcruxes as Dumbledore had initially thought, but thirteen. In hindsight, they probably should have known that Voldemort would never have settled for just seven despite the fact that few had even conceived of more than two.

Voldemort having thirteen horcruxes took them much time and many lives to find and destroy. Seven more years to be exact. Hermione had spent all of those years by his side. No matter where he had gone, she was there to help. Like a bright light, she was there to guide him during his darker moments where he had wanted to give up. By then, however, many of the people that he had known had either given their lives in the effort or cracked under the pressure and fled. Among those that died were Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Arthur Weasley, and so many more.

Ron was one of the ones that couldn't handle it anymore and fled 'to live out however much time he had left with the remainder of his family' while Hermione had remained steadfast by his side until her death while finally confronting Voldemort after his final horcrux had been defeated. Harry wasn't able to say that he was truly surprised by it, hadn't he done the same during the woods? But Hermione was crushed. She had believed that he would stay by their side and he had left instead. By then, Voldemort's soul had been split into so many pieces that it wasn't even possible for him to create any more horcruxes, a small blessing in the time of darkness.

Their final battleground was ironic: right in front of Hogwarts where their previous 'final battle' beforehand had been. By then, it was down to him and Hermione; everyone else was busy fighting the last of the Death Eaters that had converged with their master in the deciding moment for the future of the magical world. Harry's eyes glazed as he remembered the fight.

Harry had become proficient enough in wandless magic that that was all he was able to fight with it. The Elder Wand empowered his normal spells to the degree that splitting his magic between the wand and his other hand was not an issue. The closest feeling that he could relate it with would be from him riding a Cleansweep to him riding on a Firebolt. Though he loved his old wand, its power just didn't compare.

Hermione, on the other hand, never got the hang of wandless or silent magic. Her best was always in controlled magic with precise incantations while he seemed to be able to _feel_ the magic in the air instead. Now, he realized that he had an innate understanding of magic that was much more intimate than simple casting, but he was only able to refine that skill after it didn't matter anymore.

Voldemort, the prodigy that he was, seemed to also have the same skill and was firing off spells at a furious rate, many of them being Avada Kedavras that lit up the surrounding area like fireworks. Most of them fizzed off into nothing as they hit the surrounding rubble, but some came dangerously close. The only reason that they were able to keep up with him was because Harry was taking the brunt of the attack while Hermione was keeping up a constant Protego around herself and throwing one around Harry every time he couldn't dodge a spell.

Though the Avada Kedavra was originally thought to be unblockable, it was in, truth, not. The only reason that it seemed that way was because of the hatred that was needed to fuel the spell that usually overwhelmed most defenses. That, and the fact that very few people were willing or even able to test the spell out, made it something of an spell that everyone knew and feared, but didn't truly know what it did. The magical community being one that didn't do much research anyway only further made it so that tales of the spell were what most people went off of.

That being said, Hermione was able to use her Protegos to fend off many kill shots that would have ended the fight. This allowed Harry to stay in the front and shoot of spells with the Elder Wand and wandless spells with his left hand.

They were slowly gaining ground on Voldemort and forcing him up against a wall. Harry hesitated for the killing blow when Voldemort shouted in parseltongue, " ** _Kill her!_** "

Harry whirled around. Behind Hermione was a small black snake with yellow stripes that ran down its body. Harry shot out a diffindo just as the snake struck. Time seemed to slow down as the the snake just managed to bite her before the spell hit it, cutting its head off

There was a lull in the fighting as he stared, openmouthed, not believing what had just happened. He quickly rushed to her side and cradled her as she had suddenly dropped to the ground.

Voldemort gloated, "How do you like it? It's my own type of poison that I've managed to imbue with a weak form of the killing curse. It kills within a minute. Quite nice isn't it?

"Harry…" she croaked.

"Shh. Don't say anything," he managed to whisper out as his vision began to blur with the tears that were falling down his face. "It'll be all right."

"It's over for me, Harry..." she said, acceptance in her eyes.

"No it isn't!" Harry ground out stubbornly.

Hermione smiled at him. She was fading fast. "You're so stubborn. I've always loved you, you know. Ever since you first became my friend when you saved me in our first year. My first friend…"

"I love you too, Hermione. You have to stay with me!" Harry cried. "You're all I have left…"

She shook her head almost imperceptibly, "Promise me you'll live on, Harry."

A sob let out from his throat as he was wracked with tears. "No! You'll be okay! I can't promise you that!"

"Promise me!" Those two words seemed to take most of what she had left out of her. "Please…" she whispered, "Promise me…"

Harry relented, feeling empty inside.

"I promise," said Harry, regretting it almost instantly. "I promise I'll live."

"Thank you…" she smiled. Her body went limp and slid to the ground.

"What a shame," said Voldemort in his raspy voice, grinning cruelly. "It seems that your mudblood girlfriend has… expired."

A red cloud of anger seemed to cover Harry's vision. "VOLDEMORT!" He shouted, turning back around to face him. "YOU WILL PAY!"

Voldemort chuckled. "Then shall we continue?" He raised his wand and about to utter the words to his favored Avada Kedavra when Harry snapped.

He whipped his wand forward and fired off a wordless spell that was not a spell. It took his all of his rage and anger and gave it form in magic as a red beam issued from his wand, shooting forward so fast that Voldemort didn't have the time to react to it.

His eyes widened and he tried to throw up a shield too late. The beam struck him with the force of a freight train, so fast that the rest of his body didn't even follow the piece of his chest that was blown away. He stood there, the gaping hole that used to be where his chest was located dripping blood.

His mouth opened as if to say something before he collapsed backwards, dead. The moral of the Death Eaters fell dramatically and many surrendered outright while the rest were quickly overwhelmed. Throughout the entire thing, Harry stood next to Hermione's still, lifeless body.

After some time, he stood up. Nobody noticed as they were busy cleaning up what was left of the fight. He took one last look at her body. It was no longer Hermione. Hermione was his best friend who had stayed with him through thick and thin, who always had a smile for him, who gave him what it took to never give up. She was not there anymore.

With a quiet pop, he apparated away.

 **XXXXX**

 **Alrighty, I know it isn't much but I guess the beginning shouldn't take up too much time anyway. This is mostly an introduction before Harry goes back in time. I already have a couple of thousand written for the next chapter but I want to know how people will take this before I post it so that I'm not just posting stuff no one likes.**

 **I honestly have no idea where this might go so I'm just writing down whatever I think of as I go along but Harry is definitely going to be different from canon. If anyone has any ideas how this might go along, feel free to let me know. I'm thinking that I might make him a little psychotic due to the death of Hermione?**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	2. After

**Been pretty busy lately. Will same more in author's notes.**

 **XXXXX**

At first Harry didn't even know where he was. Then he realized. He was at Godric's Hollow in front of his parents' graves. He had simply wanted to get _away_ from it all that he didn't have a clear destination in mind when he apparated. He crouched in front of their graves. It seemed so empty now that he had actually met them through his and Voldemort's wands. The graves that held their body were pitiful substitutes for their spirits that had actually talked to him.

The place gave off a melancholy aura as the graveyard seemed signify everyone that had died in order to help him kill Voldemort. His eyes had glistened with unshed tears as the full force of what happened hit him. What had been his driving force for the majority of his magical life had just ended: the quest to kill Voldemort. Now everything just felt pointless as everyone he loved was no longer there to share it with him. Thoughts of ending his own life entered his thoughts before he quickly threw them away. He had promised her he would live.

He tried to calm himself as he thought, ' _What would Hermione do if she were in this situation? She always knew what to do. I was just the one who did whatever felt like the best idea at the moment._ _If only I could go back in time. But all those time turners back at the Ministry were destroyed.'_ He growled in frustration. Nothing ever seemed to go his way. ' _There has to be a way! What would Hermione do?!'_ He gave a sigh of exasperation and smiled fondly. ' _Of course._ _She would go to the library.'_

 _'What is there that could even help in a situation like this?'_ Thoughts of bringing Hermione back to life quickly reached his thoughts and exited just as fast as he remembered just how faulty the stone of resurrection was. It merely gave the user what was desired to be seen, not the actual person brought back from the grave. The person would usually go mad with grief at what he was seeing and Harry didn't fancy having that happen to him. Bringing someone back to life was a big no for him as there were too many things that could go wrong. Hermione was gone and there was nothing he could do about it.

The thought struck him like a lightning bolt. ' _I could go back in time!'_ Quickly, disappointment filled him as he remembered that all the time turners at the Ministry had been destroyed. He doubted that they were easily made since no one had even mentioned it before. Whoever knew how to make them was probably long gone and aurors would have probably used them if they had someone that could make them.

He thought to where he could even find material on such an obscure subject such as time travel. Dumbledore had rarely mentioned it despite how useful it would have been. He never even used a time turner, even though many of his problems would have been fixed with such a device. _'There's got to be a bloody good reason why. How many people could have been saved with a time turner? He could have even stopped himself from getting poison by the ring!'_ There were two possible reasons that he could think of; either using time turners was extremely dangerous or it was dark magic. Harry was willing to bet that it was the latter. Why else would Hermione, a mere schoolgirl at the time, be given one to complete homework of all things if it was so dangerous that the famed 'Leader of the Light' wouldn't even use it? Logic, he concluded, was not something that witches and wizards had in abundance.

Dumbledore had probably feared using it because it wasn't light magic though. Harry mentally scoffed. He had killed his first man when he was eleven (technically when he was one, if you counted destroying a man's body as 'killing') and things had only gotten progressively worse as the years went on, so fearing something because of dark magic didn't faze him as much as it would have back when he was still in Hogwarts.

 _'So time travel is probably something related to dark magic, or at least magic that Dumbledore wouldn't have approved of. But I don't have access dark libraries. Hogwarts definitely wouldn't contain anything close to that since even the Polyjuice potion is in the restricted section and with McGonagall in charge, nothing would have made its way there either. If only Snape had been in charge longer, there might have been a chance.'_

His eyes widened and he mentally berated himself. Wasn't he now the owner of the Grimmauld Place? Although Sirius was more light than dark, he was hardly the norm for his family. They probably had numerous dark artifacts along with a library full of information on dark magic. After all, they were centuries old.

With that thought in mind, he set off for Grimmauld place. He apparated to the doorstep as it had been heavily warded against apparition. Once Harry and Hermione had found out how valuable of a base it was for operating and recuperating, it had been put under the Fidelius charm again with Harry as the sole secret keeper with Hermione performing the charm. The reasoning for that it was a familiar place and, under the Fidelius charm, it was safe since only Harry and Hermione knew about it.

He quickly shut the door behind him as he walked in. He stopped for a moment as he realized that he didn't even know where the library was.

He cursed inwardly as he would now have to find it in the giant house. Though he had helped clean it when Sirius was first getting back into living condition, it was still big enough that most of it had been unexplored. During the war, Hermione had been the one to do most of the intel gathering while Harry trained in magic.

When he finally found the door to the library somewhere on the second floor conveniently marked 'Black Library' he quickly noted exactly where it was so that he wouldn't have to search for it next time. As he opened the door and stepped in, he stared in awe at the sheer amount of books that it contained. There had to have been millions of books stacked onto bookshelves, each one looking as old and dusty as the next. The library started out as rows of bookshelves that began from one of the walls and had small corridors of bookshelves after it. To the right of where he was standing, there was an unlit fireplace with some armchairs and a few decorations around it.

As he scanned through the titles of some of the books, he quickly realized that none of them were suitable for his needs. In fact, most of the books could have been found in the unrestricted section at Hogwarts. _Of course,_ he thought to himself. ' _The Blacks were traditionally a dark family, so they must have found a way to hide everything that they weren't supposed to have, books on dark magic as well. The Ministry would have confiscated all of their stuff otherwise.'_

He glanced around the library for a moment. ' _They couldn't have hidden it somewhere too hard to get to, otherwise it would have been too much of a hassle to even get to their own things.'_

His eyes lit upon the stone bust of some ancient person that sat inconspicuously next to the fireplace. ' _No way…'_ He nudged the head of the figure backwards and it fell back with a creak as if it had not been used in some time. The wall next to it slid open with a silent swish. He shook his head. Did the magical community have to be so clique about everything? They waved wands and rode brooms, now secret doorways hidden by stone busts too?

He wasn't mad about it though. It was an easy way for him to reach what he needed to get. The thought quickly fled as he stepped into what was an another library. Though it was smaller, it was still big enough to intimidate Harry with how long he would have to spend reading. This room had no windows and was instead instantly lit by candles as soon as the wall opened. It silently slid shut behind him as he walked in.

In contrast to the normal library he had left behind, the design of this place had the bookshelves positioned circularly around the large, ornate desk that was in the middle with many more bookshelves set behind it. The books also didn't seem to be in any particular organized system and seemed as if they had been added as the family had gotten ahold of them.

 _'I'd best get to work then…'_ he thought as he picked up a random book and headed for the middle.

XXXXX

The first few hours he had spent in an effort to organize the books into something that he could recognize, but he soon found it to be a fruitless effort. There was just too many and the covers of the books didn't give him much to go off of, so it was either learn at random or skim all the books before he could decide where to put them.

As luck would have it though, one of the books he picked up during his first hour searching through the library was on time travel. He ignored the rest of the books and spent hours pouring over that one in order in an attempt to find more information about time travel.

After a few frustrating hours where he had to constantly guess at what some words meant, as it was an extremely old book, he concluded that the book did not contain any information that was too important to him at the moment. It mostly contained theories of how time travel worked and the mysteries behind time turners. That meant that time turners had been around for a while and were extremely valuable if the Ministry keeping them locked up was anything to go by. Too bad their security wasn't enough to keep them all safe.

After what felt like forever, though it was probably wasn't quite _that_ long, he decided to check and see how long he had been in the library. He was making his way out when he realized that the door to the original library was closed.

Much to his relief, right next to the door was another stone bust which had the exact same purpose as the last one. He push the head back, made his way out through the newly opened door and went to check the nearest clock that he could find.

He frowned as the clock pointed somewhere between three and four. That meant that at least a day had passed since he had been in the library. Just as that thought hit him, so did the fatigue. He had been fighting Voldemort for a decade and a half though, which meant that he was quite adept at shrugging off being exhaustion. Despite that, he knew that he would have to get some food and rest before he was able to function normally.

He had no desire to cook at the moment, which meant that he would have to go somewhere else for food. The best option quickly made itself clear to him as going to Diagon Alley would allow him to get some food into his system and assess the situation of what was going on after Voldemort's death.

After taking a quick shower and putting on some new clothes, he made his way to the front door of the house and put on his cloak of invisibility.

XXXXX

When he apparated back to Diagon Alley to see what was happening now that Voldemort was dead, he quickly found that the entire community was in upheaval. Everyone was rushing around and the noise was nearly deafening which made sure that no one noticed the noise as he appeared. However, that did make it a bit harder to avoid everyone as they moved about. He soon found out the reason for all the commotion as he glanced over someone's shoulder at the front page of a nearby Daily Prophet.

 **Boy Who Lived, Slayer of You-Know-You, Has Vanished!**

By Rita Skeeter

 _Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, has disappeared after numerous eyewitnesses saw him kill_

 _the feared He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Now, where could our young hero have gone and…_

He stopped reading as someone bumped into him and hurriedly looked around him. The headline was enough to give him a sense of what was going on anyway.

The person that had bumped into him was a tall wizard that didn't have any other distinguishing features other than that. He mumbled to himself as he looked around, "I could have sworn there was something…"

The man shook his head and kept walking.

No one seemed to have noticed the incident so he quickly ducked into the Leaky Cauldron that was nearby so as not to have a repeat of that. Now that Voldemort was dead, he no longer had to be in the limelight and would definitely not willingly step back into it.

The bustling pub seemed to be full of people but he still managed to find a seat that was empty. He had taken off his invisibility cloak and merely kept his head down while he changed his eyes to brown with a quick charm and a concealment one to hide his scar, doing wonders for keeping others' attention off of him. His hair had grown out over the years and he normally kept it in a ponytail in the back since there was little time to be wasted on haircuts during a war. Once the scar was out of sight, Harry Potter was usually not thought of.

He caught Tom the bartender's attention after a few minutes and waved him over.

"Hello, what can I get you today?" Tom the bartender asked with a smile.

"Just a couple of sandwiches and some water will do," Harry responded, without a hint of how wary he felt being next to so many people.

"Coming right up."

As Tom went to get his order, he listened carefully around at some of the conversations with a small hearing charm so that things weren't so muddled.

"…Potter did it again!"

"…where he went?"

"...probably died too, they're just hiding it..."

"…heard that his girlfriend got offed too…"

Harry quickly cancelled the charm and shook his dead. It didn't seem like anyone was discussing anything useful, but he was glad that it didn't seem like anyone knew where he had gone.

As Tom came back over with his food, he quickly ate and left after leaving a galleon on the counter.

As he stepped back out into the busy street he wandered aimlessly for a few minutes. He thought about the choices he had at the moment. There wasn't really anyone left to go to that he was familiar with as the majority of his time fighting was spent with Hermione at his side. Her parents still didn't remember that she even existed and he didn't want to be the one to give them back their memories and break the news to them at the same time, so that was a dead end.

Despite still being in the afternoon, his exhaustion soon left him with no other option but to get some rest. He hadn't gotten much sleep beforehand since he was preparing for the fight with Voldemort which meant that he had been running on fumes for a while now. The food in his stomach didn't him help with staying awake either so he eventually apparated back to Grimmauld Place to get some rest. The house seemed even gloomier than usual. During the war, things were hard but at least he had someone to share his burden with. Now, he didn't have his burden anymore but he also didn't have Hermione.

He would have taken Voldemort back if it meant that Hermione would still be there.

He slowly made his way through the house and to the bedroom that he used as his on the first floor. He stood in the doorway for a moment as he surveyed the scene. Everything seemed to have lost its color. The blue bed sheets seemed dulled and the carpet looked worn out. He trudged the short distance from the door to the bed, and as he collapsed, a final thought entered his mind before he succumbed to the embrace of sleep.

 _'Now I'm alone.'_

 **XXXXX**

 **Alrighty. So I know this isn't much but things have been a bit busy lately so I haven't had too much free time to write anything. Also, the whole writing thing is still pretty new to me so I have to keep reminding myself that _yes_ _, there is a story that I'm writing_ and _no, it's not just in my head._**

 **This is still in the beginning so there's not too much that's happening right now. Things will speed up however and there will be some time lapses since I'm sure that not many people would like to read about every moment of the fifty year time jump from here to when Harry goes back.**

 **I do have a bit more written, but I felt that this was a nice place to end it, short as it is, as a lot of changes will be happening and I don't want to wait too long in between my updates. Once I get the hang of writing my updates will have a lot more content, but for now I'm trudging along the best I can.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	3. Leaving

**Before anything, I'd like to thank Noodlehammer who has offered to beta read my stuff before posting it so that once I start posting longer chapters there will be less errors :)**

 **If you haven't read his stuff (which I don't know how as his has been around a while and is pretty popular while I've just barely started) then you should really check it out.**

 **XXXXX**

As Harry Potter woke up, he squinted through the sunlight that was shining through the windows.

' _So I slept an entire day…'_ he thought to himself.

It wasn't unusual for him to sleep through long periods of time after forcing it off for too long. It was his body's way of making up for it, though it sometimes left him with a headache. While fighting Voldemort, it was crucial for him to be able to stay awake until he was in a safe spot for fear of being captured while resting. Grimmauld Place was the one place that he and Hermione would let their guards down along with a few others, but not too much as no place was ever truly 'safe'. There were probably ways around the Fidelius charm that no one knew about, but could be found.

Not having to worry anymore was a marvel to Harry. For his entire life it was a constant struggle of being on high alert, whether it be from the Dursleys or Voldemort. It was unsettling to Harry, and Moody's voice phrase of 'expect the unexpected' echoed through his mind.

Harry doubted that he could ever truly be at ease anymore. There was always something to worry about. Even now, he still had to worry about the Ministry of Magic. Though most of the Death Eaters were gone, there were most likely still spies in the Ministry that would jump at a chance to capture him in revenge for killing their master.

What was he to do now? He supposed he could go back to the library to do some more reading, but that just didn't appeal to him at the moment. He needed someone that he could talk to, but who could he go to? Ron? He grimaced. No, he still didn't forgive him for leaving them when they needed him. In Harry's mind, Ron was a abandoning them when it got hard.

Come to think of it, Harry should have seen it coming. There were countless incidents that had already proven that Ron wasn't the most steadfast of friends. From the first big moment of Ron not believing Harry during the Tri Wizard Tournament to his jealousy towards his and Hermione's relationship. Even though his and Hermione's relationship was just the love of close friends, Ron had constantly proved that he was liable to leave when he felt things were not going his way. Sure, he stuck around sometimes, but Harry was willing to bet that was more for the fame than anything else.

Ron had always been obsessed with being seen as the best and being next to 'the Harry Potter' was an easy shortcut there. From his first moment of glory at during the first year at the end of the year feast, he had been hooked. He could hardly even see past the fact that Harry didn't even want all the fame that he had. During the third year when Harry needed the help of his friends to even _survive_ , Ron had simply believed that he had entered the tournament on purpose for the money.

Ron was dim sometimes, but he could barely believe that Ron thought he cared about the money. All he wanted was a small group of friends that he could be with without anyone judging him for being Harry Potter but that was a concept that Ron couldn't seem grasp. Harry supposed that he couldn't lay all the blame on him for he had grown up around a large family so being without one was not something that he could comprehend.

But still, Harry had grown up around an abusive family and he didn't go around beating everyone up that he didn't like, so why should Ron have his upbringing as an excuse? He frowned and shook his head. He didn't want to think about it anymore. The war was over and he should be able to relax.

He decided to go over to the Burrow. Molly Weasley was a mothering figure and that was just what he needed right now: for him to be able to let down his guard for a while so that he could let go for a while. He got out of the bed and stretched out the kinks in his back and went to take a shower. After that, and a fresh change of clothes, he was ready to go.

XXXXX

As he apparated outside the Burrow, a small smile made its way to his face. The old, uneven house brought back memories of a happier time when the war with Voldemort didn't seem as real. It had all seemed like an adventure back then, with friends to help along and with adults to handle the gruesome side that he didn't want to see. At least, compared to how it was after Hogwarts that was what it seemed.

With Dumbledore dead, he didn't have nearly as much guidance anymore as they couldn't keep coming back to his office to talk to his painting. Even though there were ways for him to communicate with them despite that, it simply wasn't worth the security hazard. Plus, the fact that though Dumbledore had the best intentions, Harry often didn't see eye to eye with him. Case and point was with Dumbledore not seeking to train Harry for his confrontation with one of the most dangerous wizards of the century that desperately wanted his head for defeating him.

Though the Leader of the Light thought he was doing what was the best, his fear of killing because of the death of his sister, Ariana, had made him blind to what needed to be done at times. This lead to needless deaths in the battle against Voldemort and free Death Eaters that could have been eliminated.

He walked up the path to the front door of the house with anticipation. He didn't really know what to expect. He hadn't seen Ron's mother in a few years since he had asked them not to visit so that they wouldn't be as big of a target for Voldemort and Hermione had insisted on honoring that request. Now, though, he wanted to see the person that had acted as his mother figure for most of his years at Hogwarts, if only to see how she was doing.

As he knocked on the door he waited as a shout of "Coming!" could be heard from somewhere inside the house.

The door burst open and Molly Weasley stood there with her mouth open for a few moments, as if she couldn't believe what she saw. She quickly regained her bearings.

"Harry! What are you doing here? Come inside!" she said as she ushered him into the house.

She looked like she had aged a decade since he had last seen her, which was only about four years ago. The lines on her face had deepened and there seemed to be a weariness about her that he knew others could see on him, only he was better at hiding it. His acting skills had to be up to par whenever he was doing covert raids.

"Everyone's out for now but Ron's upstairs if you want me to get him…?"

"There's no need for that," Harry said as she followed her into the kitchen. "I was just stopping by to see how things were going now that the war's over."

Molly took a seat across from him. "Is it? I had read in the Prophet that it was but I thought it was too good to be true…" she trailed off as her eyes unfocused for a moment.

She jerked her head up quickly and apologized, "I'm sorry dear, things have just been a bit… Well, things haven't been the same since Arthur passed."

"It's okay Molly, I understand. Things just haven't been… okay."

She hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Is it true? About Hermione? I heard but I wasn't sure…"

Harry's eyes seemed to go dead as he answered, "Yeah. It's true. She died during the last fight when she had my back against Voldemort."

She didn't seem to know how to respond to that so she stayed quiet.

His head lowered as he stared at the table.

"I couldn't save her," he finally managed to say in a quiet voice. "He had a snake and it bit her and it had some form of the killing curse and… I just couldn't save her. I didn't know any spells that could heal that kind of damage and I JUST COULND'T SAVE HER!"

She winced as his fist had slammed onto the table at the last word. His voice had been rising in volume until he was shouting at the end.

Harry took a deep breath and regained himself. "I'm sorry about that. I just haven't had a lot of time to get used to it. We were both prepared to lose our lives against him but… It just didn't seem so real when we were by ourselves."

"It's okay Harry, I know exactly what you mean," said Molly as she remembered how many other families had gone through the same thing, including hers. The first moment for her was when Fred had died. Although George had kept against the effort against Voldemort, he had never been the same again. Gone was the playful prankster and instead he became more serious than many thought was possible for one of the twins.

She was about to say more when Ron came pounding down the stairs.

"Mum, is everything alright? I heard something and…" Ron stopped and stared as he saw Harry.

"You!" he snarled. "What are you doing here?! I told you to stay away from my family!"

"Ron!" Molly exclaimed. "Harry-"

He cut her off halfway through, "No! Him being here just makes us a bigger target for You-Know-Who! He doesn't target pureblood families that aren't with Potter."

Harry felt a cold anger wash over him for his past friend's usual ignorance and stupidity and walked up to him. "So that's why you wanted me to stay away? You only said that you wanted to spend the rest of the time you had left with your family. I guess that was a lie as well." Harry looked closer at him, "You don't read the news do you? As usual, you ignore anything of importance and pay attention only to yourself."

Ron turned red with embarrassment as it was true that he hadn't checked the news in months.

"Well then, you should know that the war is over. It's been over for a few days now. I killed Voldemort for the last time at Hogwarts."

Ron tried to salvage what he could of the conversation. "That's great, Harry! I didn't know-"

"Of course you didn't. You also didn't know that Hermione died now did you?"

Ron gaped like a fish as Molly Weasley let out a sob. "What do you mean she died?"

"I mean exactly what I said. She died when we were fighting Voldemort. Do you know why she died?"

Ron shook his head numbly.

"She died because the person that should have been there watching her back wasn't there. Voldemort managed to kill her because there was no one to watch out for her. I was too busy fighting him to take care of her and he managed to get off a sneak attack at her."

"You can't blame her death on me!" Ron shouted.

"Like hell I can't! You were family to us and you abandoned us when we needed you!" Harry leaned forward. "You know who you remind me of right now? Pettigrew."

Ron sputtered as he tried to respond.

"Shut up, Ron. I don't want to hear anything from you. Pettigrew abandoned his friends when they needed him, just like you. It seems that he chose his owner well."

Ron finally mustered it up to speak. "Well she wouldn't have died if you could have protected her better!"

Harry's vision turned red as he reached out and grabbed Ron by the neck. Though the redhead was taller than him, years of being at war with Voldemort while Ron hid sheltered at his house made Harry much more muscular than him.

"I should kill you now," he said as Ron tried to push his hand away, gasping for air.

"Harry! No!" Molly ran over to Harry and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Please, don't hurt him!"

Harry released him and shot his last parting shot as he walked away. "Hermione trusted you, you know. She always believed that you would come back right when we needed you. Good thing you won't have to let her down anymore now that she's dead."

Molly had ran over to Ron to help him back up. Ron, still on his knees and coughing, was unable to respond as Harry stormed out the door.

XXXXX

Harry swept his hands through his hair as he walked down Diagon Alley. He hadn't expected his trip to the Weasley House to be so emotionally taxing. It was barely into the afternoon and he already wanted the day to be over.

He made his way to the nearest pub and sat down at a table for a drink and some time to think about what he was going to do now. He honestly hadn't expected for his visit to end so badly. In hindsight he should have expected it since Ron was there, but he figured that him not being in the right state of mind was a good enough excuse. He had just finished fighting a war after all.

A waitress walked over to his table. Her eyes widened slightly before she asked, "What can I get you today, sir?"

He was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice so he replied, "Just some firewhiskey."

"Okay, just a second."

She came by a few moments later with his drink.

He sat for a while, nursing the firewhiskey as he thought about plans he would have to make. He knew that he would have to get stronger when he got back so that he would be able to face Voldemort without the fight being as difficult as it had been the first time. After all, Voldemort did have over half a century of more time to hone his skills than Harry did. And Harry's time at Hogwarts could hardly be counted as training since Dumbledore had done his best to keep Harry under a leash so that he could be easier to manipulate.

A prime example had been his occlumency. You'd think that having a Dark Lord having access to a teenager's mind, the teenager that was prophesized to be the crux in his defeat or success, would garner more attention than just, 'Professor Snape will help train you. He has my full trust'. There wasn't even a follow up to make sure that it was working. The only tests that he had was when Voldemort had figured it out and started probing into Harry's mind.

That ended up with Sirius being dead and was one of the last straws for Harry's trust in Dumbledore.

His thoughts were interrupted as the current Minister of Magic stepped through the doorway: Dolores Umbridge. Somehow, Voldemort had managed to get her out of Azkaban with the aid of his followers that had, and still did, infest the Ministry. Her time in Azkaban only made her sadistic side worse and it wasn't something nice to begin with. Though she was not exactly on Voldemort's side, her goals did help his as she detested anyone that was not a pureblood and helped inspire fear in people. She was flanked by four aurors.

Her eyes scanned the room before they locked onto Harry's before he was able to hide himself and a revolting grin stretched across her face.

Harry cursed inwardly as he realized that he had forgotten to reapply the charms to himself so that he would look different. He wondered how Umbridge had even known he was there. Then his eyes narrowed as he remembered the waitress. He spotted her ducking into the back of the room.

Umbridge walked towards Harry, the grin still on her face. The aurors followed behind her, wands at the ready. "Hello, Mr. Potter. I'm afraid that you'll have to come with us. There have been numerous charges of you doing some… illegal things."

"And just what are these charges, Umbridge?" Harry spat.

"Oh, dear!" she chuckled. "You really should show more respect to your betters. There are witnesses that say they have seen you casting spells that are not allowed." She pulled out a roll of parchment from her robes. "I seem to have a list of them here. The killing curse is the most distinguishable one while you have been casting others such as the cruciatus curse, and the imperius curse. All three are unforgivable curses. That's not even to mention some dark magic that you have been doing like fiendfyre and legilimency!"

Though Harry knew it was pointless, he responded anyway. "Those were used in the war against Voldemort."

"Oh, but Harry! You know that you could have joined the auror force if you had wanted to fight Voldemort! You would have been able to use those curses since you would be a registered auror."

Harry knew that he was stuck. No amount of arguing would be able to get him out of this since Umbridge was determined to arrest him. Unlike Fudge, she was not weak willed so he wouldn't be able to simply cow her. He knew that he even if he were to defeat her and the aurors around her, there were likely traps and other aurors set up outside that he didn't know about. That idea was proven by when he tried to apparate and was unable to. They had set up anti apparition wards.

He was glad that he always had both his wands at him at all times. Because of the fact that he only used the Elder Wand at important times, it was not well known that he had two different wands. Even though he could perform magic without a wand, it wasn't so strong that he could fight off groups of people with it.

"Okay, I'll give myself up," Harry stated, startling the five of them.

Umbridge looked the most surprised out of all of them but her grin got wider. "I'm afraid we'll have to take your wand too."

"Okay," he responded as he brought out his phoenix feather wand. The aurors tensed, as if expecting him to begin firing.

He simply placed it on the table in front of him and watched as Umbridge took it, inspecting it as though it were a fake.

She peered at him for a few moments before motioning to the aurors, "Alright, take him outside. We can apparate once we're out there. And don't get any ideas, Mr. Potter. You don't have a wand now and are defenseless."

Harry suppressed his urge to break down laughing at the absurdity of the statement and managed to only smirk slightly with his head facing towards the ground. He nodded and got up. He ignored the smirking aurors as they surrounded him while noting that he would be able to apparate once he was outside.

She seemed to take it as a sign of defeat as she stood triumphantly and lead the way to the door.

As she walked out, numerous aurors positioned some distance around the entrance stiffened as the door opened. The rest of the street was empty as they had probably cleared it out beforehand.

"Stand down!" she announced and they put their wands away. "We have Harry Potter!"

As she said so, Harry walked out while in the middle of the four aurors that had come in with her. They had their hands on him in case he tried to escape. He was glad that he had decided not to retaliate while in there as the number of aurors there would have had him at a disadvantage because of the decreased mobility he would have had.

While the rest of the aurors were distracted by her talking, he saw his chance and quickly pulled out his Elder Wand and fire four blasting curses in quick succession at the aurors surrounding him. As the nearby surroundings were showered in blood from the body of the four aurors, he cast a Protego in order to shield himself from that and the spells that flew at him moments later. Though he doubted that any of them would have even gotten through his wandless shield as they were untested in battle since the people that battled Voldemort with him were from the same group that had fought with Harry the time before, he didn't want to take any chances that maybe one of them was actually powerful. He debated for a second whether or not he should stick around to fight them but ultimately decided against it. Better safe than sorry.

The decision to using the blasting curse proved fruitful as the resulting panic because of the blood allowed him to grab onto a shrieking Umbridge, who still had his wand, and apparate away.

XXXXX

"What the hell just happened?!" screamed one of the aurors that had been hit by some of the blood and was now freaking out.

"Shut up, Michaels!" shouted another who seemed to be the one in charge. "Potter took the Minister. We have to find out where they went and get her back."

He turned to address the others, "Harry Potter has abducted the Minister of Magic! Team seven will guard here in case they come back! Clean up the mess while you're at it! All other teams are reassigned to finding out where they went! Everyone go to their usual patrol areas to keep on the lookout! The Minister is to be brought unharmed at all costs! Harry Potter is to be brought back, dead or alive! Now move!"

They couldn't trace Potters tracks since he had apparated away, but they could monitor sections

The area was filled with loud cracks as groups of aurors apparated away.

XXXXX

Dolores Umbridge opened her eyes blearily as a pounding headache wreaked havoc on her concentration. Her surroundings were dark but she could make out that she was in a warehouse somewhere. She realized that she was tied to a chair and wondered where she was before the memories of what had transpired hit her.

"Potter!" she bit out.

"Yes, Umbridge?" responded a voice somewhere behind her.

She tried to crane her head around but Potter was directly behind her and she couldn't move. She began to panic as she realized that her wand was also gone and tried to apparate.

Potter must have realized this as he said, "I wouldn't bother trying that if I were you. The Ministry isn't the only one who has wards."

"I'll have you thrown in Azkaban for this! If you don't release me this instant then you'll be facing the Dementor's kiss!"

A chill ran down her spine as Potter chuckled darkly and stepped in front of her. "Oh, really? I suppose I should be afraid, shouldn't I?"

She began to struggle against her bindings as he leaned closer to her, a disgusted expression prominent on his face.

"But you've been trying to find me for years now haven't you? Hoping to have some power once Voldemort won?"

She flinched as he said his name.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she growled.

"But of course you don't!" he exclaimed with false cheeriness as he straightened up. "The Minister would never be in league with Voldemort! The Ministry could not possibly be filled with people who are loyal to him! Why, I'm sure that the Ministry expended every effort they could in fighting against him!"

Her stomach felt nauseous as he circled around her, voice growing louder and louder until he was practically yelling.

Then he stopped in front of her. "But then why did the war take so long? Why was I, a mere child, given the responsibility to end it when that should have been the responsibilities of an adult? Why was Voldemort not stopped while he was still weak? While he could have been easily defeated?"

This time his voice got quieter and quieter until she had to strain to hear him.

"Because of people like you!" she flinched as he shouted. "Bigoted purebloods like you follow him and give him the support he needs. Without people like you, he was nothing more than a wizard. A wizard that could be defeated by the Ministry. A powerful one, but a wizard nonetheless. But because of support from people like you, innocent people have died. People that could have been saved." His thoughts centered on Hermione as he said this.

His eyes narrowed as he looked closer at her. "People like you think you can get away with things without any retribution. It makes me sick," he spat at her.

"What you need," he began again with a cold smile on his face, "is an example. An example of what happens when you push me too far." He laughed. "Let me correct that. What you need to _be_ is an example."

"Wha- what are you talking about?" she stuttered. Potter was clearly insane. There was no telling what would happen.

"Oh, don't you worry about it," he replied as he patted her shoulder gently, almost as if handling a newborn child. She flinched from the contact. "I'll just being doing what you did to me to show me that lying was wrong," he said as he raised his hand to show his scar that read, 'I must not tell lies'.

She almost sighed in relief when he continued, "Just… a bit more severe of a lesson. Since a child should receive this type of punishment, an adult should be able to handle much more, no? After all, a little bit of bleeding really drives in what needs to be learned."

He raised his wand.

"Please. Please! No! I'll do anything you want!" she shouted.

He stopped. "Oh, I don't doubt that." He smiled cruelly. "Once I'm through with you that is. You see, I've had quite a few chances to interrogate Death Eaters before, but with the Death Eaters, I had to restrain myself since I information was the prime goal. But you? No. I'll be sending a message with you."

Her screams soon filled the air.

XXXXX

Lewis Turner was having one of the worst days of his life. He had just become an auror a month ago before he was assigned to capturing Harry Potter when it all went wrong. Potter killed the four aurors that were guarding him and managed to apparate away with the Minister. Mind you, he didn't much care for the Minister, but his and his family's wellbeing depended on staying in her good graces. Bad things tended to happen to people that she didn't like.

He had been ordered to stand guard at where Potter had apparated from since yesterday and it was honestly becoming quite boring. He thought it was pointless for so many of them to be standing guard where they were. Did they honestly expect Potter to come back here?

Just as those thoughts entered his mind, a sharp crack made him whip his head towards the sound. The area was cleared of everyone who was not aurors and there wasn't anyone scheduled to switch off watch with them until at least another few hours.

He stared in disbelief as Harry Potter, carrying what seemed to be a lump of meat, dumped said lump of meat onto the ground and cast a Sonorus charm on himself.

"Hello, everyone," his voice boomed. Aurors rapidly began swarming around him and began firing spells. Someone apparated to inform Ben Thomas who was the head auror at the moment.

"Protego Maxima," He cast almost lazily.

None of their spells were able to penetrate the shield so they soon stopped their fruitless efforts after a few minutes.

"Now that we can have a conversation like gentlemen," he said condescendingly, "we can start."

"What do you want, Potter?" asked Thomas who had been a minor Death Eater before Voldemort had sent him to infiltrate the auror ranks after his 'death' at Hogwarts seven years ago. With the help of other followers that were there, he had managed to rise to the top. His nondescript looks and name made it so that it was easy for people to overlook his rapid advancement. Since Voldemort had not expected to be fighting at Hogwarts, many of his followers were still out there, though he would not be coming back this time as he didn't have any more horcruxes saved up.

Potter had cancelled his Sonorus by then as he had someone of rank that he could speak to.

"What I want," he began, "is for the wizarding community to stop being such bigoted idiots that spout more manure than a cow. But that's not really plausible for the moment so I'll settle for a simple request. Leave me alone. Leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. Of course, if things get too out of hand and one of you guys get the brilliant idea of being the next Dark Lord, I'll show you why that's a bad idea."

"I'm I afraid I can't do that, Potter," said Thomas. "You have crimes that you-"

"Does it look like I care?" he interrupted. "You know, and I know, and we all know, that those charges are all complete and utter trash. I won't even begin to try to explain why since we all know that as well," he said pointedly.

"And since the Minister can pardon people as well, I don't think that charges against me are going to be a problem much longer. Isn't that right?" he asked as he nudged the lump of meat that was next to him.

The aurors recoiled in horror and revulsion as the lump of meat let out a whimper. They quickly realized that that must have been Umbridge. What they had mistaken for a bloody lump of meat was actually the Minister that was lying at his feet. Several aurors lost their lunches as they hurled at the ground.

"Ah, yes. I forgot to introduce our friend here didn't I?" he asked lightly. "Well, Umbridge is an example of what just miiight happen if my request isn't granted. So I think that I'll be pardoned, don't you?" he asked the question to Umbridge. She merely whimpered again.

"As you can see, she's not exactly in the state to respond at the moment, but I think you get the message. You might want to get her some medical help soon, by the way. I don't think that she'll survive much longer otherwise."

He gave a wave and apparated away again.

That was the last time Harry Potter was seen for a long, long time.

XXXXX

Harry Potter let out his breath as he collapsed onto his bed back at Grimmauld Place. What had just happened was distasteful, even to him, despite the horrors that he had already witnessed in the war.

Unlike in the war, though, he had to make it visually effective or else it wouldn't have hit it home about how serious he was in being left alone. Though the Cruciatus curse was undoubtedly much more painful than what he had done, it didn't leave as lasting of an impression on other people as physical torture did.

He would know, as he had been subjected to the Cruciatus enough times to where pain didn't register to him as much as it used to. Though it was still painful, he was now able to still fight even when under the curse.

What was most exhausting was keeping up the act even though he was bone tired by the end of it. It was necessary though. If he showed any amount of weakness then Voldemort's followers would be able to find ground. Right now, they were basically chickens with their heads cut off without Voldemort to lead them. Though it was still dangerous, he knew that many of his supporters would slowly fall off without the threat of him coming to visit them still there. Most of his inner circle had been killed off by him already.

He also knew that it was only a matter of time before the Ministry began to move against him again, but the move with Umbridge was only to buy him enough to so that he could set things in order. He hadn't planned on staying in wizarding Britain since he had no ties to hold him back, but there were still things that he needed before he left, namely the Black library. That was his key to getting stronger as he didn't trust anyone to have that much control over him. His whole life he had been manipulated and now he wanted it to stop.

What little belongings he had were already packed away and all that was left was for him to get books from the library. His trunk would be an easy enough place to keep all of them since it was, like most wizard's trunks, enchanted to be much bigger on the inside than the outside.

He laid there for a few more minutes before he got up and shrank his trunk so that it would be easier to carry to the library. As he sent all the books into his trunk he gave a silent thank to magic as it would have taken hours, if not days, for him to put the books in by hand.

After he finished with that, he made his way back to his room to sleep for the night.

XXXXX

Harry was standing in Diagon Alley, this time with him remembering to disguise himself with a few charms, reading the Daily Prophet. The headline was of course about Umbridge's disappearance and subsequent reappearance a day later. She had been unable to comment as she had been transferred to St. Mungo's for emergency treatment.

' _Good,'_ he though. That would give him more time before they would realize that they couldn't find him. He planned to leave and lose himself within the muggle world where he could set up places that he could practice and hone his magic without any interference. His trunk was already in his pocket and he was all set. He had wanted to say goodbye to Hogwarts, but that was too risky and he didn't want to make any mistakes like that after he had basically just mutilated the Minister not a day before.

He made his to the brick wall that separated the two worlds apart without a single glance backward.

As he walked through, he whispered to no one, "Good bye."

 **XXXXX**

 **This is pretty much where the prologue ends. The next chapter will be where the first one started off before the 'flashback' so it'll hopefully be more interesting from then on.**

 **Anyway, any suggestions as to where the story might head off to would be welcome as I have a few ideas what I want to do but I don't have anything too concrete set out yet.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	4. On The Train

**Alrighty guys, sorry for the month without any updates but I've been moving into university and keeping up with a few other things besides that, so I haven't had much time to write. I'll probably have much more time now that I'm more used to the schedule so yeah :)**

 **Anyway, here's the next chapter.**

 **XXXXX**

He steeled himself. No more hesitating.

Though by now he didn't much care about Voldemort as the thought of him had taken a backseat after a decade or so, he still wanted to go back and experience what he never had the chance to experience the first time. He had made sure that he knew enough to where any threats that Voldemort might present were negligible. He took the final step and closed his eyes as oblivion took him.

He wasn't sure how long he had drifted, unable to sense anything but the darkness that surrounded him and even that wasn't even the type of darkness he was used to. It was a type of darkness that signified nothingness rather than the mere absence of light.

After what seemed like forever, though it just as likely could have been a few minutes, he finally felt something. It was as if his body was tingling, though he couldn't move or feel anything else.

A white that contrasted the black that was around him seemed to rapidly wash over him. Then he knew no more.

XXXXX

"Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good."

Harry started at the sudden noise and nearly apparated away before he realized he was at Ollivander's.

"Well, well, well… How curious… How very curious…" Ollivander peered at Harry while Harry stared back. Ollivander looked the same way he did before he had been captured by Voldemort.

"Excuse me?" Harry asked, bewildered. It _had_ been over half a century since this moment so he didn't remember the specifics of what had happened the first time.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather- just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother, why, its brother gave you that scar."

Now he remembered. This was where he learned that Voldemort had a wand that was intimately connected to his.

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things- terrible, yes, but great."

"True," Harry replied neutrally.

Ollivander bowed to them after Harry paid walked out of his shop with Hagrid.

Hagrid didn't say much as Harry pondered how exactly things were going to go. He was still in wonder that Hedwig was alive and beside him. He had known that the emotions he would feel as he would see people that should have been dead would be raw, but he hadn't put much thought into Hedwig. He merely followed Hagrid as he was lost in thought.

Hagrid tapped his shoulder after a while. "Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said as he went and bought him a hamburger. He didn't eat much but kept looking at everything around him. It was so familiar but at the same time it wasn't. It was a nostalgic type of feeling that made his stomach do flips as he anticipated seeing people that he thought he would never be able see again.

He was torn between the decision to go back to when he was first born and any other time, but the choice was made for him as he was sent back to his first encounter with a magical item that he had bound himself with. In his case, it was his first wand.

"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.

"I'm fine. Everything's just… not what I expected," Harry managed to say, sticking with the partial truth.

"Don' you worry Harry. I know that things'll be hard fer you, but you'll do just fine," Hagrid encouraged with a smile.

Harry finished the rest of his burger and stood up. "Thanks, Hagrid. For everything."

Hagrid boomed out a laugh as they started walking. "No problem, Harry. Yeh'll be fine. Oh yeah, an' before I forget, here's your ticket fer Hogwarts. First o' September- King's Cross- it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with your owl, she'll know where to find me… See yeh soon, Harry."

They had made it to the train where he would go back to the Dursleys and He waited until Hagrid was gone before he apparated outside of Private Drive. The first thing he did was charm his luggage so that it would float behind him, saving him the effort of carrying it upstairs.

Harry then reached out with his senses and could feel that Vernon was in the living room watching the telly along with Dudley while Petunia was in the kitchen making food.

He smirked slightly to himself as he walked through the front door and made his way to the kitchen where Petunia was at.

He waited until she turned around before he whispered, "Ligilimens," as he gazed into her eyes. He didn't have to say the incantation anymore but it still felt nice to do it every now and then.

Her eyes glazed over as he implanted a few commands into her mind. He repeated the process with Vernon and Dudley before making his way into his room with his luggage and Hedwig floating behind him. She was quiet as he gazed at him with questioning eyes.

His eyes skimmed over the clutter that was there before he waved with his hand and the broken toys and other useless items reorganized themselves so that they would be out of his way. He would decide what to do with them later, but now he wanted time to prepare for what he needed to do before going to Hogwarts.

Hedwig hooted softly as he let her out of her cage while placing the rest of his items near one of the corners of the room.

Harry smiled at her fondly. "Hello, Hedwig. There's a few things that I'll need to do before everything can go smoothly."

She cocked her head and hooted again.

"Right, I forgot to name you." He said, slightly embarrassed that he had forgotten to give her a name. "Well, how does Hedwig sound?"

She perked up and gave another hoot.

He gave a small laugh. "I'm glad you approve, Hedwig. Now let's get started."

He put a weak charm on the door so that no one would disturb him and began his preparations.

XXXXX

It was time. September first had arrived and everything was in order. He had glamours in place just in case he would appear too 'old' to some people which would draw the wrong type of attention to him. He would have enough of attention being The-Boy-Who-Lived and any more might blow his cover. It would be best if things followed as closely to the original timeline as possible, though some events were more important than others so he did have some leeway.

The difficult part of his glamours was layering them in a way that it wouldn't be noticeable for those that were 'magically sensitive' such as many of the more powerful adult wizards in the world were. The strongest layers that did the most were progressively overlaid by weaker layers that served to mask the amount of magic that was emanating from them.

He also made himself a pair of silver bands that he now wore on both of his wrists. They were mainly there to aid him suppressing his the magic was constantly emanating from his core due to a ritual that he had performed with the three hallows so that he wouldn't have to put forth conscious effort into doing it. They were designed so that they would not be easily noticed unless Harry wanted them to be seen as it would not do for people to realize that there was something abnormal about him before he wanted them to.

What took up most of his time, however, was stabilizing his core. Essentially, he had two options. He could either keep his core or add his juvenile core to the one he had now. He went with the second option.

Though it was more difficult, the possibilities it offered was unknown since he didn't know if they would develop separately or together. He had some theories, but nothing concrete. Hopefully, it would be something beneficial.

The Dursleys on the other hand had all but forgotten about him due to his messing with their minds. They would remember if they were directly asked about Harry Potter but they wouldn't be thinking of him otherwise. Such was the beauty of being skilled in the mind arts. Very, very skilled to be more accurate. The practice had, in fact, taken up much of his time during those many years in which he had studied many different branches of magic.

He put a notice-me-not charm on himself and apparated some distance away from King's Cross so that no one would know that he hadn't actually been driven there.

As he made his way through the crowd with his luggage in tow, he kept a careful eye out for the Weasleys so that he would be able to keep things the same as they had been before.

They were easy to spot out and he was able to find them in less than a minute with their flaming red hair standing out in the crowd.

They all looked so young. He could scarcely connect the eleven year old Ron to the one that had betrayed him and Hermione so long ago. Most of his anger at him had been spent as well. Though he hadn't been with them during the fight, at least he hadn't joined up with Voldemort like Pettigrew had done. He wasn't going to condemn him for a something that could be changed this time.

He lugged his luggage up to Molly and said in the most innocent voice he could muster, "Excuse me?"

She quickly turned around. "Hello, dear! First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too. I'm sure you both can get on together."

"Yes, well… The thing is, I'm not sure how to…" He stumbled his words and put on a look of hesitance.

"How to get onto the platform?" She asked kindly, as if it weren't the first time she had encountered a situation like this.

"Yes, the letter didn't say anything about how to get on and…"

"Not to worry, dear," she smiled at him. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."

"Okay, thank you!" he replied.

He pushed his trolley at a leisurely pace as he headed towards the barrier. It was easy for him to see how the enchantments would add solidity to the 'wall' unless someone was going towards it with the intention of making it through. There were also strong charms that would divert attention as someone was going through so that random muggles wouldn't be trying it out. All in all, it was a nice piece of work and he wouldn't have minded meeting the person (or group of people since enchantments such as this were usually done as part of a team effort) who had done it.

There were many other aspects of it but there were also a few things included in the warding that were useless such as the part of it that prohibited a potato that was not a potato from getting past it. Useless bits were expected to be part of large projects such as that one since there were so many parts to it. As long as they worked, everyone was happy.

He felt a small sensation pass through his body as he made his way through. Most people didn't notice how it actually had to open up to whoever was intending to go through so that random objects didn't just keep falling through, but that was the wizarding world for you. Things just weren't questioned as long as it didn't have affects that were too detrimental to anyone.

He made his way to the end of the train and went into the compartment that he had been in the first time. He hesitated as he had almost just gone in without meeting the twins. This was a crucial moment as it was his first introduction the rest of the Weasley family that was there and the beginnings of a chain of events that he would have to keep on for next year.

He pretended to struggle with his trunk for a few moments before he heard a voice behind him.

"Want a hand?" It was George.

"Yes, please," Harry panted while he crossed his fingers inwardly. Things were going well so far.

"Oi, Fred! C'mere and help!"

Fred made his way over and they both helped Harry bring his trunk into the compartment and stow it away.

"Thanks for the help," Harry said, as he inconspicuously pushed his hair away from the front of his head.

"What's that?" George asked, pointing at Harry's scar.

"Blimey," said Fred. "Are you?"

"He is," interrupted George excitedly. "Aren't you?"

"Am I what?"

"Harry Potter!" They chorused together.

"Oh, yeah, I am."

They both stared at him for a moment before he heard Molly's voice call out from outside.

"Fred? George? Are you there?"

"Coming, mum," replied George loudly as they took one last look at him before getting off.

Harry sat down and waited for the whistle to blow. Soon enough, the train began moving and he waited for Ron to show up.

The door slid opened and Ron came in hesitantly.

"Anyone sitting here?" he asked, pointing at a seat. "Everywhere else is full."

"No, it's empty."

He sat down and took a glance at Harry before quickly looking out the window.

"Hey, Ron," said George as the door slid open once more.

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train – Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry," Fred directed at him, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye," said Ron as the twins slid the door shut behind them.

Harry mentally counted to three as he waited for Ron to ask if he was Harry Potter.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" he blurted, right on schedule.

Harry nodded.

"Oh- well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got- you know…"

Ron stared as Harry brushed his hair to the side.

"So that's where You-Know-Who…" he trailed off.

Harry raised his eyebrows as if questioning whether or not Ron was really asking something of that nature.

"Right… Sorry, never mind."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ron started up again.

"I heard that you went to live with muggles?"

"I did. What about it?"

"What was it like? I mean, it must've been awful growing up without knowing your parents and having to live with people that couldn't do magic and all," Ron rambled.

"It certainly could have been better, but not for the reasons that you probably think," replied Harry, thinking back to how he had grown up.

"What do you mean?" asked Ron, curiosity evident on his face.

"It's not something that I want to talk about."

Ron clearly wanted to press the issue but eventually just started talking about himself instead. "Well I grew up with five brothers and a sister. There's a lot of pressure for me to do well too since Bill and Charlie did great when they were in Hogwarts. Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of his Quidditch team. Percy's a prefect now and Fred and George, you've already met them, they mess around a lot but they still get good marks. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

Harry's eyes narrowed slightly as Ron pulled out Pettigrew from his pocket. It would be so simple to just kill him now, but he didn't want to mess up something that might be important later.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got and owl from my dad for being made a prefect but they couldn't aff-" Ron stopped himself. "I mean, I got Scabbers instead."

His ears had gone pink at the reminder of his family being poor and Harry decided to relent. He could have either done it or not done it, but maybe he could help Ron become someone that he wasn't last time.

He told him what he could still remember of when he was a child and managed to retell it so that it didn't seem as if he was talking about something that happened the better part of a century ago for him.

This seemed to sooth Ron's insecurities slightly as he imaged how much worse it would have been to grow up with the Dursleys.

They both ended up staring out the windows after that. If Harry faked it to himself hard enough, he could almost imagine that he was going to Hogwarts for the first time that he hadn't gone through all of this before. It was a nice feeling.

As twelve thirty neared, the food cart reached their compartment and the lady pushing it asked, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

Harry smiled and bought a few things. He kept some of the pumpkin pasties and some chocolate frogs before pushing the rest of the small pile towards Ron. "Here, have some."

Ron's faced reddened again. "It alright, mum already packed some sandwiches for me and…"

Harry gestured to the pile of sweets again. "Either you can eat some of them or they're going to waste. There's too much for me to finish."

Ron hesitated for a moment before giving in to the allure and reaching for one of the pasties. "Thanks, Harry."

"Don't mention it."

They spent some time eating the food and Harry was done for a few minutes before there was a knock at the door and it slid open again.

This time it was Neville.

"Sorry," he said tearfully, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

They both shook their heads.

He wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"Don't worry, he'll show up soon enough," Harry reassured him.

"Yes," he said miserably. "Well, if you see him…"

"We'll let you know if we see him," replied Harry.

He left soon after that.

"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron after a few moments. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it quick as I could. Mind you, I've got Scabbers, so I can't talk."

They both looked over to the rat that was sleeping away on Ron's lap.

"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"

He managed to pull out a wand that had seen better days from his trunk.

"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway…"

Just as he raised his wand the door slid open again. This time Neville had Hermione in tow. Harry's heart felt like it skipped a beat as he saw her.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said as she stood there expectantly.

Harry was still recovering from seeing her as Ron replied, "We've already told him we haven't seen it.

Hermione, however, had already focused on the wand that he was holding instead of his words.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She took a seat and waited for him to continue.

"Er- all right."

He cleared his throat and began, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

A small bit of yellow began creeping through the rat's fur, starting from his head.

They all gasped in surprise, Ron most of all. "That didn't work last time!"

Harry had cast an illusion where the rat's fur became yellow and was now quietly chuckling to himself.

A small pop resounded and Pettigrew turned back to his normal color.

"It seems like you did it right this time," said Hermione who was looking suitably impressed. "That spell did seem a bit weird though. It didn't last very long either. None of the spells that I've read about so far are that long for something that simple. I've memorized all the course books already and none of the spells in there are longer than two or three words. I just hope it's enough."

She was flustered now. "But are we supposed to know spells like this already? I mean, nobody else in my family knows magic so they couldn't have taught me anything which means that they probably don't expect anyone to know these though- it would certainly help if I knew a bit more in case there's a surprise test on it or something. I was just so happy when I got my letter to Hogwarts. I've heard that it's the best school of magic there is. Oh! I'm sorry. My name's Hermione Granger by the way, what's yours?"

Ron looked as if she had just given birth to a chicken.

Harry laughed and responded for him, "I'm Harry Potter and this is Ron Weasley. We've only just met as well."

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Hermione asked. "I know all about you, of course- I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Yes, I am Harry Potter and you probably shouldn't believe everything that you read about me," said Harry with a hint of distaste. He despised many of those books since he had gotten a chance to read them during his time after the war. He knew why so many people saw him as a saint and a symbol of good; those books had practically written adventures for him, adventures that couldn't have possible happened since he was five years old in many of them.

She seemed skeptical about distrusting books, but kept it to herself. "Well, do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I supposed Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

She left with Neville after those parting words.

Ron turned around to face Harry, "Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He tossed his wand back into his trunk and sat back down. "George was the one who showed me that spell. This is the first time that it's worked though. It probably won't work again."

"What house are they in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," he said dejectedly. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." He shivered.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that's the house that You-Know-Who was in. Everyone in there has a bit of evil and most of his Death Eaters came from there too."

"They can't be all bad. Otherwise, why wouldn't they just get rid of Slytherin altogether?"

"Just you wait," said Ron vehemently. "When you see them you'll know what I mean."

Harry knew that convincing Ron that he was wrong was not going to happen during the space of a train ride so he changed the conversation.

"So, what's Quidditch? I've heard about it but I'm not sure what it's all about."

"What?! Not knowing about Quidditch is like not knowing what a wand is!"

"Well I didn't know what a wand was until about a month ago," said Harry, laughing inwardly at the embarrassment Ron was feeling.

"Right. Well, er- Quidditch is about-" And off he went. It was comforting in a sense, like the TV in the background of a house. All Harry had to do was to nod and right moments and say, 'what do you mean?' whenever Ron was about to finish up.

Their 'conversation' was interrupted as the door slip open once more and Draco Malfoy walked in with Crabbe and Goyle. His eyes immediately locked onto Harry.

"Is it true?" he started off without delay. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"No, I'm Tom Riddle." he replied lazily.

"What?" Malfoy looked confused.

"Just kidding, I'm Harry Potter," he said with a grin. This was too much fun.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and Goyle," he resumed without a blink as he saw Harry glance at them. "And my name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Ron sniggered behind his cough.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

He turned around to face Harry again. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand for Harry to shake. He didn't reach for it. Previously, he hadn't known what a handshake had meant when talking about alliances, but he knew a bit this go around. Undoubtedly, Lucius had instructed Draco to find out if he would be willing to be on their side.

"You'll have to work on your diplomacy if you want me as an ally, Draco. Maybe your father hasn't taught you that insulting people when you don't know their relations is a bad idea, but it should have been one of your first lessons, preferably before you learned about how superior you are to everyone else."

"You'd better watch it, Potter," said Malfoy, some anger tinging his voice as his face turned pink. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around riffraff like the Weasleys and Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Ron stood up. Harry was still lounging on his chair.

"Say that again," spat out Ron, his face turning redder than it had before.

"Oh, you're going to fight us now, are you?" Malfoy sneered at him.

"I wouldn't necessarily call it a fight," said Harry as he straightened up slightly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Don't you know that you shouldn't make enemies with people stronger than you can handle?"

"It seems to me that you two are outnumbered. Right? Crabbe, Goyle?" Malfoy nodded to them.

They both cracked their knuckles and did their best to look intimidating.

Harry barked out a laugh.

"I never thought I'd see the day where wizards use brute physical force to try and scare another wizard. But then again, none of you can properly be called a wizard yet, can you? Save for maybe Draco. What's your father been teaching you at home, hmm? Has Lucius been teaching you some tricks of the trade?"

Ron whispered at him furiously, "What are you doing?!"

He was ignored.

"You're just asking for it aren't you, Potter?" Draco shot back angrily. Crabbe and Goyle advanced on him.

"Ah, ah, ah." Harry waved his finger at them. "This is between me and Draco, now."

Crabbe and Goyle were shoved back with an invisible force. Draco panicked and tried to back up but found that he couldn't move his legs. His arms were similarly held by his side.

"You don't seem nearly as scary once your bodyguards can't help you, do you?"

"Shut up!" Draco nearly shouted.

Harry stood up languidly and walked towards him.

"What are you going to do, Draco? Where are your threats now?" he whispered, his face was inches away from Draco's.

"I'll tell my father about this!" he said fearfully.

"Yes… Tell your father about this. Tell him that unless his son can learn to control himself, something… unfortunate might just happen at Hogwarts. After all, it is a big castle and people can get lost in it quite easily." He smirked evilly. "Who knows? Someone could get really hurt if they're not careful."

He sat back down.

"We'll definitely have more to talk about in the future. For now, you should leave."

Draco stumbled as he found that he could suddenly walk again and rushed out the door. Crabbe and Goyle quickly followed suite and the compartment was left to just Harry and Ron again.

Ron whirled around to face Harry.

"What was that all about?! You making fun of Malfoy! We could have gotten hurt!"

"Don't worry, I had it under control the whole time. Nothing would have happened without me wanting it to happen."

"And that too! What did you do there? Was that magic? I thought you didn't know magic," Ron said accusingly.

"I don't know magic, that's just something that I've been able to do my whole life. Maybe that's how I defeated Voldemort?"

Ron flinched at the mention of Voldemort's name but nodded hesitantly. Harry was already planting the suggestion in his mind that Harry Potter being able to do wandless magic was completely normal and not something that he needed to question. He usually preferred not to outright change the way someone's mind worked, but instead to gradually shift it so that it wouldn't be noticeable.

Hermione burst in a moment later and stared at them.

"What just happened? I saw three boys running out of here like they'd just seen a ghost."

"Nothing," Harry answered smoothly. "We were just talking and they remembered that they had something they needed to do."

Ron nodded in agreement.

"Well that's alright then, I guess," said Hermione. "You two had better hurry up and get your robes on. We're nearly there."

Ron waited a moment before scowling. "Would you mind letting us change then?"

"All right. I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," she huffed. "And by the way, you've got dirt on your nose."

Ron glared at her as she walked back out.

They changed into their robes and sat back down.

A voice soon called out through the train, "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

They made their way out of the train and into the cold. Night had fallen while they were on the train and it was dark out now.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" he heard the voice of Hagrid call out from near him. "C'mon, follow me- anymore fir' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

The group quietly followed Hagrid down a steep, narrow path. Neville sniffled occasionally.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sigh o' Hogwarts in a sec," he called out. "Jus' round this bend here."

There were loud gasps of excitement as the path opened up and the castle Hogwarts was revealed. They were standing in front of the lake while beyond it was Hogwarts, perched on top of a mountain on the other side of it.

Harry stopped and stared. It had been a long time since he had seen Hogwarts. His last memories of it weren't the best but there were happier times there as well. A wave of nostalgia hit him. There would be so many things that he would see again.

"No more'n four to a boat!" said Hagrid as he pointed to a small fleet of boats near the edge of the river. There was a small disorganized scuffle as everyone rushed to get into the boats.

Once they were all settled in, Hagrid called out, "Everyone in? Right then- FORWARD!"

On command, the boats glided over the lake smoothly as everyone stared at the towering castle above them.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as they approached a tunnel. They soon reached a harbor where they all got out.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid who had apparently managed to find Neville's toad.

"Trevor!" cried out Neville as he held out his hands for him. They all trailed behind Hagrid as he led the way up a passageway that led out onto wet, night grass.

They had reached Hogwarts.

Once Hagrid made his way up the stone steps and to the large oak door, he raised a fist and knocked.

 **XXXXX**

 **This will most likely be the only chapter that follows canon as closely as it did. Different things will start happening after this chapter.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


	5. The Sorting

**It's been a while since I've last written. I was considering not continuing this for several reasons but my sister convinced me to start writing again (probably because she promised to start writing too and didn't want to do it by herself).**

 **I apologize for anyone out there that is actually interested in this story and might have been disappointed for the long time without any updates. I'm back home for thanksgiving and had some free time (which probably should have been spent starting on some essays I have due) so I decided to write a bit more.**

 **Anyway, here is the next chapter.**

 **XXXXX**

The door swung open to reveal McGonagall standing there. She had on her look that she often used to intimidate students into obedience which seemed to be working quite well, judging by the looks on the faces around him.

"The Firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here," she replied as she led the way through the doors. They were soon ushered into an empty chamber off to the side where they would wait for the sorting. Ron quickly fell into place beside him.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall once they had settled a bit. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Harry smiled slightly as he watched many of the kids fidget slightly as McGonagall's gazed travelled over them.

"So what house to you reckon you'll be in, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure," he replied. It was the truth. He hadn't put much thought into what house he'd want to be in, but Slytherin was no longer the pinnacle of evil he had once thought it was.

In truth, he believed that the sorting had used a flawed process in which it made the person's choice a much bigger factor that it should be. For example, the main reason he had not been sorted into Slytherin originally was because he had heard, by chance, that Slytherin was an evil house. What if he had heard that about Gryffindor? Or Hufflepuff or even Ravenclaw? It simply didn't make sense.

Those were a few of the reasons that he was now seriously considering Slytherin. Though it housed some less than savory people, he was curious about what life would be like if he had ended up there instead of Gryffindor.

"Well, I'll probably be in Gryffindor," said Ron confidently. Then he leaned a bit closer and whispered, "I'm not sure what I'd do if I wasn't. Mum would probably disown me if I got put into Slytherin. Mind you, I'm not too sure about how we get put into the houses, but Fred told me that it's supposed to be something that hurts a lot."

He was saved from having to respond when numerous gasps and a few screams let out from the crowd. The ghosts had shown up and they were conversing about Peeves.

"New students!" exclaimed the Fat Friar happily once they had paused their conversation long enough to notice them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

He smiled brightly as a few of them nodded. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."

The door opened once more as McGonagall made her way back in. "Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

The ghosts slowly floated away as they were told to get in a line and began walking into the Great Hall.

The rest of the students were already seated, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on the stool and stood back as she waited for it to begin.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffis are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

Everyone burst into applause as the hat stopped singing and once again returned its appearance to an ordinary, though aged, hat.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered vehemently. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."

Harry chuckled lightly. "Ron, I doubt they'd send eleven year olds to fight something that most grown wizards have trouble taking care of."

McGonagall stepped forward with a large roll of parchment and began calling out names.

A thought stuck him just as Hermione was called. She had probably gone into Gryffindor because of Dumbledore. He knew that she had done a great of bit background reading before coming to Hogwarts, so was it really such a stretch that she had read about the 'greatest wizard' in living memory and wanted to be in the same house as him? Not really.

Her life would have been miserable at Hogwarts if she had not made friends with Harry like she had originally. Even that, though, was something that had happened due to numerous chance happenings that he wasn't sure was going to happen this time around.

Just as she put on the hat, he pushed his consciousness forward and delved into the hat's mind.

' _Hello, there',_ he thought aloud.

The hat seemed to freeze up at the intrusion, but gave no sign otherwise that anything was going on.

' _Well, this is interesting,'_ the hat thought back, slightly alarmed. _'Who are you and what are doing?'_

' _I'm just a concerned person that wants to make sure that a student makes her way into the right now.'_

' _I assume you're talking about the student I am currently on?'_

' _Yes.'_

' _Well, she does seem to be thinking, quite insistently I might add, that she wants to go to Gryffindor, though she holds little of the qualities that make up one.'_

Harry smiled to himself. _'I thought as much. I'm guessing that she fits into Ravenclaw the most?'_

' _Yes,'_ responded the hat, now sounding a little suspicious. _'I'm not going to ask how you know this, since your answer is likely not forthcoming, but she does also hold traits of Hufflepuff in great amounts as well. Nearly as much as Ravenclaw's.'_

' _Really, now?'_ It shouldn't have come to him as such as surprise now that he thought about it though. She had always been one of his most loyal friends. _'Nevertheless, would you mind putting her in Ravenclaw? I'm sure we both know that Gryffindor is not the best fit for her.'_

' _I do apologize, whoever you might be. The headmasters of Hogwarts always have a bit of influence over the workings of the castle, and the sorting is no different. He has asked for the wearer's choice to play a much greater role that was originally intended by Godric. I cannot disobey him.'_

' _Then I apologize as well.'_

Before the hat could respond, he quickly took hold of its mind and forced it to shout out, "RAVENCLAW!"

The entire event had taken less than a minute.

He forced it to stay silent as Hermione took of the hat with a slightly dejected look on her face as she made her way over to the Ravenclaw table.

' _You should not have done that,'_ thought the hat with palpable anger.

Hoping to dissolve the situation until he could properly converse with it, he did his best to erase the last few minutes of its memory which proved to be much more difficult than he had thought it would be. The reason was because the hat did not technically have a 'memory' but instead held information that it could access.

That was also probably why Dumbledore's influence had such an iron grip on the hat. It could not truly know the orders that it was originally meant to follow, only what he had as a directive currently. The best Harry could do was to force the information of the past few minutes to be filed away under 'unimportant' within the hat's mind.

Its anger disappeared instantly and Harry got out of its mind before anything else could happen.

Draco, unsurprisingly, was immediately put into Slytherin just like last time.

Harry waited through the list until his name was finally called.

"Potter, Harry!"

Murmurs broke out as he walked over to the stool.

He didn't bother masking the fact that he was the person that the hat had recently been talking to but was slightly surprised as the hat didn't make too big of a deal over what Harry had done.

' _Very cunning indeed…'_ thought the hat as it realized who it was now sitting upon.

' _You would do well in Slytherin.'_

' _I'm not exactly sure that's where I would want to be,'_ thought back Harry, now letting the hat gain access to his early memories, up until the point in time where he had sat on the stool the first time. They were a bit foggy, as most memories tended to get once they aged, but they served their purpose well enough.

' _Hmm… Though you do seem to be hiding something from me. I cannot see any reason for your actions nor can I see the actions happening either. Even what I can see is not clear. Definitely Slytherin. Unless this is being caused by someone else?'_

' _No, there is no one else that is a part of this. I can see your logic for why Slytherin would be a good choice, but I'm conflicted on whether or not I should go to Gryffindor.'_

' _Yes, there is much that I would need to know before I can say accurately. Much that you do not seem willing to let me see, as unusual as that is. There is little that can be done to prevent me from seeing into one's mind. What makes you different?_

Harry stayed silent.

The hat seemed to ponder the thought for a while. _'You would most definitely find glory and greatness in Slytherin… And the path in Gryffindor is not one you would walk well. Though you would do well there, the choices that you have there would be greatly limited and the happiness you would find there would be a fragile happiness.'_

' _But wouldn't that depend upon the choices I make while I am in those houses?'_

' _That is true, but the overall chances of what would happen… That is what I know. Maybe I would be able to tell better if you would let me see what you are hiding? What you are showing me is quite surely not who you are anymore.'_

Harry smirked, _'No, I think I'll keep that to myself.'_

' _Well, if you are that adamant about Gryffindor…'_

Just as it was about to shout its answer, Harry made up his mind decided to take a chance. Hermione was already in Ravenclaw which meant that the only person he would know in Gryffindor would be Ron and he didn't fancy being stuck with him again.

' _I have decided. Gryffindor is not the house for me.'_

The hat paused. _'If you are sure.'_

Harry nodded. _'I am.'_

"SLYTHERIN!"

Though quiet murmurs had pervaded the hall the entire time he had been under the hat, it now fell silent.

He could feel Dumbledore's worried gaze on him before he had even taken off the hat.

As he set it back down on the stool, he made a snap decision. At the very least, it would be fun to keep everyone on their toes. He picked up the hat once more and reached inside of it.

Immediately, he felt his hands wrap around the hilt of a sword. The sword.

He straightened, hat still in hand, and slowly drew it out.

Those who understand the significance of what had just happened gasped in shock while the rest of the people there merely gasped in surprise as an eleven year old pulled a sword out of a hat.

He set the hat back down and looked over at Dumbledore. He was now looking thoroughly baffled at what was going on.

Snape, also sitting at the professors' table was sporting a look of hatred with a hint of confusion.

"Wow, a sword," he said with false surprise as he swung it around like a child with a toy. Technically, he was a child with a 'toy'.

Dumbledore finally stood up. "Harry, I must ask you to hand me that sword. Something like that could cause great harm if not handled properly."

"Don't worry, professor. I'll take good care of it," he replied, keeping in the laughter that was threatening to break out as Dumbledore fumbled for words. He gave the sword a few more wild swings.

"I must insist, Harry. Please hand me the sword."

"But it's mine. I found it."

"Obviously the boy has no respect for elders." said Snape with a sneer on his face. "I recommend that he is given detention to teach him manners."

"I'm sure that's not necessary, Severus. Isn't that right, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, the grandfatherly look already in place.

"I don't know… This is a pretty cool sword," responded Harry, his face scrunching up in thought.

At this point, the rest of the people in the hall were watching, open mouthed, as he openly defied the greatest wizard of their time.

"This is the last chance I can give you, Harry. Please hand over the sword, otherwise there will the consequences."

"Fine…" he said petulantly.

He walked over to the large table and carelessly plopped the sword onto the table. Dumbledore lifted it up with an almost reverent gaze and stared at it for a few moments before realizing that the sorting still hadn't finished.

"Ahem." He looked back to the small line of students still waiting to be sorted. "Yes, please carry on with the sorting."

Harry made his way over to the Slytherin table as the next name was called. He could see Malfoy peering at him with a mistrustful look as he sat down in an empty spot. He was given a wide berth as they still weren't sure what to make of him. He had defeated Voldemort but had been sorted into Slytherin and had even defied Dumbledore – for a few moments at least.

As Blaise was finally sorted, it was time for Dumbledore to make his beginning of the year speech. But Dumbledore was still staring at the sword.

Snape coughed loudly and Dumbledore jumped with surprise.

He glanced around him with wild eyes. "Oh! Yes! Of course! Welcome to Hogwarts everyone! It's a new year and Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

He had begun walking towards one of the exits before he had even finished his last words and was still holding the sword with both hands as if it were a small child, mumbling to himself as he went.

McGonagall sighed in exasperation as she stood up to take Dumbledore's place.

"The beginning of the year feast has begun. Please enjoy the food."

Many of them glanced down in surprise as food indeed had appeared on the plates without them noticing.

"Some final notes that you would do well to keep in mind: the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden." As she said this, she glanced towards the Gryffindor table as if there were certain people she was picking out with her gaze. "There is a locked room on the third floor corridor that is off limits. Magic is not allowed in the corridors."

She looked around the entire hall before she continued. "I am sure that those rules will be easy to follow. If there are any additional questions, Mr. Filch will be able to answer them. I hope you do your house proud during the following year."

With that, she walked off, likely to find Dumbledore and see what was going on.

Harry look around to see how everyone was reacting to what had happened. The ones in Slytherin were throwing 'discrete' looks at him every now and then, probably trying to figure him out. Malfoy was staring at him with a look of hatred when he flinched as Harry met his eyes. That caused him a small smile before he resolved that he would have to do something about it before things got too out of hand. After all, he was here for a reason and he didn't want petty schoolyard squabbles to ruin things too much. All he needed to do was to be patient and wait for the right opportunities to make his move.

Unsurprisingly, at the Gryffindor table, many were shooting him confused looks as he sat comfortably at the Slytherin table. Ron was chief among them in confusion, though he seemed mistrustful and not a little bit angry. He couldn't have been the only one to be angry, but he was the most obtuse about it. He was sitting near the front of the table with a group of people already surrounding him.

Hermione was sitting in the middle of the Ravenclaw table but it still looked like she hadn't found anyone to talk to while the majority of them were already talking away in little groups that had been formed. Harry frowned to himself. He would have to find a way to talk to her later on without causing too much notice. He didn't want to draw anyone's notice to her before she was ready to deal with the aftermath of being the center of attention. The rest of the people at the table seemed to be talking among themselves, though most of the conversation was centered on him as they made a conscious effort to keep from looking towards his location.

The Hufflepuff table seemed to be the most relaxed out of the four, though that wasn't saying much as their conversations were still slightly hushed as if fearing that he would overhear them.

Eventually the talking lessened as more and more people began focusing on the food that sat before them. Harry also began eating, albeit at a more sedated pace than Ron who looked as if he was doing his best to shovel as much food into his mouth in one go as possible.

At one point, the ghosts began floating in to greet the first years. The Bloody Baron floated at the front of the Slytherin table and stared at everyone with an indifferent gaze until he saw Harry. His eyes widened slightly before they narrowed at and he left through one of the walls. That only brought more attention to Harry while merely shrugged when the rest of the Slytherins began glancing at him again.

When the feast finally ended, everyone from their table got up and the first years followed one of the prefects who was Marcus Flint. Harry carefully made sure that he was in the back of the group in order to watch out for anything that might happen. On the way out of the Great Hall, he could feel Snape's eyes following him the entire way. They then made their way to the dungeons and stopped once they reached the doors.

"The password to get in for now is 'pureblood'. It shouldn't be that hard to remember but if you forget, then you're stuck out here until someone who remembers comes," said Marcus as he turned around. "The password changes every month so you'll have to get it from a prefect the week before a month ends or someone else that already knows it."

With that, he turned around and said, "Pureblood," to the door and it swung open. He walked inside and the rest of the group followed. The common room was a large room with a few chairs around some tables and couches that were settled around a large fireplace. Crests of Slytherin were decorated around the walls and there was a faint green tinge around them. Other than that, it wasn't what most people would usually think that a dungeon would look like. It was brightly lit and seemed quite comfortable.

Flint made his way towards the center before facing them again. "Now, there's only one real rule that you'll have to follow when you're in this house: stick together. This means that no matter what's going on inside this house, outside, we stick together. All the other houses are against us so we can't afford to be splitting ourselves up. If you have a problem then either deal with it yourselves or bring it to one of the prefects." His eyes narrowed. "If anyone finds out about it outside of this house, you won't like the consequences.

"As for rooms, girls' dormitories are on the right and boys' are on the left. First years are on this floor and second on the one down. You get how it goes. First come, first serve and no whining about it. If you want a different room then you'll have work it out with whoever has the room. Any questions?" He didn't wait for a reply. "Good. Your luggage will be in this room tomorrow morning so you don't have to worry about that for now."

He walked out of the commons and left the rest of the group to meander around.

Harry immediately went to where Flint said the boys' dormitories were in order to stake his claim first while most of the others stayed in the commons to talk. As he made his there, Malfoy caught his eyes with a hateful glare which was pointedly ignored by Harry.

The hallway that he stepped into had doors stemming from both the left and the right sides which presumably led to rooms. At the end of the hallway there was another set of stairs that led down in a circular pattern. All of the doors were opened which probably signified that they weren't taken yet so he chose the third room on the left.

The first thing he noticed about the room it was pretty bare. It was around two times bigger than his room at the Dursleys but there wasn't much in there other than a bed, a closet, a desk with a chair, and a small bathroom off to the side.

He closed the door behind him set up a few basic wards that would prevent anyone that he had not given permission to enter the room. He knew that he would already have a few enemies in Slytherin other than Malfoy and he didn't want to wake up only to find someone in the middle of trying to kill him.

As he settled in for bed, he thought back to what had happened today. He was already making changes that had not happened in his original timeline. One of the main things was splitting up the "golden trio" as they had often been referred to as. Hermione was in Ravenclaw while he was in Slytherin and Ron had stayed in Gryffindor. Hopefully it wouldn't change things too much so that he could still work off of previous knowledge to predict what would happen.

However, he didn't plan on being the person that he was last time: someone that didn't make waves until it was necessary. This time, he would make sure that he was proactive about what was going on so as not to waste this opportunity. One of the first things he would have to do was to make sure that his own house wouldn't be a problem for him. He knew that an easy way to start off on that would be to subjugate Malfoy as his political influence would assist him greatly in making sure that the Slytherins wouldn't be a hindrance.

Malfoy. His eyes narrowed as he thought about him. There were numerous ways that he could deal with him, but he wasn't sure which way was the best to go about it yet.

For now, he would wait and see what affect his presence would have on Slytherin house and go from there.

 **XXXXX**

 **I'm not too sure how things will go from here but I do have a few ideas down already. I'd be happy if you guys have any suggestions.**

 **Edit: I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this fanfic for a while. If there's any of you that want this to continue then tell me in the reviews. The reason for this is because I don't really like how it started out but if there's support for it then I'll keep writing for this one.**

 **Questions and comments are welcome!**


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